Baton Rouge Business Report

1 week ago | businessreport.com | Holly Duchmann

In an unexpected move, the Louisiana Public Service Commission will consider on Wednesday scrapping its statewide energy efficiency program that it worked for 14 years to get off the ground, Louisiana Illuminator reports. Commissioner Mike Francis, R-Crowley, added the agenda item Monday, before the LPSC was expected to meet at the Cypress Bend Resort in Many.

1 week ago | businessreport.com | Holly Duchmann

Hunter Odom’s favorite shirt just happens to be a hand-me-down from his father. The attorney says he was drawn to the shirt because of its little secret: The old formal button-up looks totally normal under a jacket but bears a playful pattern on the back panel. “Once you get loose a little bit and you want to have a little bit of fun, you can take off your jacket and it transforms the shirt,” Odom says. “You’re just ready to party with it.

1 week ago | businessreport.com | Holly Duchmann

Powell’s thoughts: The Federal Reserve can stay patient and wait to see how tariffs and other economic policies of the Trump administration play out before making any changes to interest rates, Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday. “As that great Chicagoan Ferris Bueller once noted, ‘Life moves pretty fast,’” Powell said in a speech to the Economic Club of Chicago.

1 week ago | businessreport.com | Holly Duchmann

No longer a distant concept, artificial intelligence stands to change almost everything in the world of business. That’s according to LSU Executive Vice President and Provost Roy Haggerty, who works with organizations and companies to implement AI best practices and who sat down for the latest episode of Business Report’s Strictly Business. While he says it’s hard to predict the pace of the transformation, AI ultimately represents a productivity gain for businesses.

1 week ago | businessreport.com | Holly Duchmann

Residents of the mostly Black communities sandwiched between chemical plants along the lower Mississippi River have long said they get most of the pollution but few of the jobs produced by the region’s vast petrochemical industry. A new study led by Tulane University backs that view, revealing stark racial disparities across the U.S.’s petrochemical workforce.